Honey Lemon Sablé Biscuits were just asking to be baked. It was a sign: Corsican lemons poking out from an oversized basket, stuck to their prickly leaves. I filled a large bag and, dreaming at the Monoprix checkout, thought about my favourite lemon and passion fruit meringue tart I could make with them. Corsican hubby would be pleased.

Then Lucie suddenly came down with a virus all last week while Mummy bear tried to calm her scratchy throat and racking cough with hot lemon and honey drinks. Finally when the fever subsided after a few days, it was my turn for the symptoms; then Antoine; like crashing dominoes, we were. The lemons didn’t make it to dessert mode – instead these easy Honey Lemon Sablé Biscuits.

The oversized jar of honey, bought from the market at Apt last summer, was also our best medicine. Miel de Garrigues, or honey from the Mediterranean coastal regions from such typical wild shrubs as lavender, thyme, sage, rosemary was the perfect soothing addition to drinks, yoghurts and to coat our favourite weekend brioche (thank you, freezer!).

Feeling sorry for myself (I’m a typical Aries – I’d hate to live with me), I felt the love circulating via friends with hints on the best remedies on Facebook – thank you! Now I’ve discovered Rooibos, that has really helped.

However, I’ve also been thinking about the new website, and so Jérôme’s suggestion, “More egg yolk recipes?” was also welcome. I’ve gradually been building up a list of yolk recipes and you’ll be happy to hear there are plenty more waiting for you in my book, Teatime in Paris (as well as many egg white recipes!). MeanwhileI’m adding more to the list here on le blog. After all, we are mad about macarons, and we need to use up these yolks tout de suite.

Luckily I hadn’t lost my appetite. Come teatime this weekend, the end of the honeypot was looking rather concrete and unappetising. With only a few seconds in the microwave, the last of the liquid nectar was just too good to down all in one go, so I found these biscuits on the internet.

I say biscuits with my Scottish accent, my American friends call them cookies, the French call them sablés, so what on earth was I supposed to write as a title? Incidentally, the French refer to them as sablés since as you mix the butter and flour together with your fingertips, it resembles sand (our breadcrumbs reference). Crumbs – isn’t that fascinating? So, honey lemon sablé biscuits they are.

Honey Lemon Sablé Biscuits

Recipe slightly adapted from 750 grammes French website for Petits délices au miel. I reduced the sugar slightly and added a pinch of salt. I used a stronger honey (like mountain honey) which flavours the biscuits beautifully.

1. Measure the flour in a large bowl. In the centre, add the sugar, softened butter, lemon zest, honey and salt. Mix all together well with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (or sand – sable – as the French say) then add the egg yolks. Alternatively, if you have a stand mixer, mix all the ingredients together for a couple of minutes maximum until well blended together.

2. Split the dough into 2, cover with cling film and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan. Remove the dough from the fridge and film and roll out with a rolling pin to about 5mm thickness. Cut the dough using your favourite cookie cutters. Put the biscuits on a baking tray covered with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes (this will make it easier to remove them) then cool on a wire rack.

I was planning on coating them with a ginger and lemon glaze but after having tried the first ones, I can honestly say they don’t need any fancy toppings. They are delicious and tasty enough on their own. Although don’t forget the tea! Serve with lemon tea – or why not a warming pot of Ginger Rooibos tea?

Print

Honey Lemon Sablé Biscuits

Prep Time

10mins

Cook Time

10mins

Total Time

20mins

Quick and easy cookies that are delicious using a strong mountain honey or Acacia honey that are particularly good with a pot of ginger Rooibos tea if you have a cold - or not!

Course: Snack, teatime

Cuisine: French

Servings: 40biscuits

Calories: 83kcal

Author: Jill Colonna

Ingredients

250g/ 9oz plain flour

60g/ 2.5oz sugar

130g/4.5oz softened butterunsalted/doux

2egg yolks

2tspslemon zestunwaxed

3tbsprunny honeyAcacia/mountain honey

1good pinchsaltfleur de sel

Instructions

Measure the flour in a large bowl. In the centre, add the sugar, softened butter, lemon zest, honey and salt. Mix all together well with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (or sand - sable - as the French say) then add the egg yolks.

Alternatively, if you have a stand mixer, mix all the ingredients together for a couple of minutes maximum until well blended together.

Split the dough into 2, cover with cling film and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan. Remove the dough from the fridge and film and roll out with a rolling pin to about 5mm thickness. Cut the dough using your favourite cookie cutters. Put the biscuits on a baking tray covered with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Bake for 10 minutes.

Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes (this will make it easier to remove them) then cool on a wire rack.

Jill, now that I’ve seen your site and recipes, I am over the moon with the comments you left on my site! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are very kind and I love your blog, too! In fact, I would love to make these biscuits with some Meyer lemons which were just given to me by a friend! Will let you know if I do as I have a LOT going on and leaving for a trip in less than 2 weeks; you know how that goes! Ugh! Thanks so much for finding me, so now I’ve found you! 🙂

Thank you for coming to le blog, Christina! Meyer lemons … yes, I keep hearing about them via the blogging world and it’s frustrating that we don’t get them here. You’re so lucky. Good luck on the travels. Looks like we’re off next week to Italy and so best get planning …. restaurants! 🙂

Mmmm it looks so yummy !!! I don’t know, Jill, if you already use, but you can find “cédrat” in Corsica. By the way, I don’t know how to say cédrat in english 😉 They use it to make an alcohol over there, called Cédratine. I didn’t get the opportunity to try yet.

Hi Francis – so glad to see you’ve popped in. Thank you! Yes, my husband is from Corsica so we know cedrat (yes, it’s the same in English) well, not to mention Cédratine, the deep yellow liqueur (we finished it recently making Fiadone and wanted to post about this too). I’ve never been able to find cédrats in Paris – pity, as it’s so much powerful to normal lemons (Citrus medica with rough skin). Let’s keep our eyes peeled, shall we? 🙂

Funny how looking at that Monoprix basket photo brought it all back to me, the smell of Monoprix, the sounds, the food counters, clothes, make up (bought some of my first ever make up there) etc It’s the strangest things that make you homesick for somewhere, don’t you think?

These biccies look delicious, I hope to try them sometime although I can’t quite figure out this rental oven! Hope you’re all feeling beaucoup mieux!!

You know, Claudine, I wasn’t even going to put in that basket so I’m glad this meant something! I forget to take shots when I’m at the supermarket and don’t look around me enough. Feeling much better today, if still very “woozy” (thank goodness it was only just a passing thing!) – thanks for saying hello and good luck in the rental flat!

Thanks, Liz. Let’s just say these were easiest to bake (I couldn’t do much else – even my eyes were streaming looking at any screen or book). I don’t know if I could have even attempted your amazing looking chocolate valentine’s creations!

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Bonjour! I’m Jill, a Scottish-French lass in Paris since 1993, home cook to my Corsican husband & teenage girls. Welcome to ‘le blog’ that accompanies my French patisserie recipe books, Mad About Macarons and Teatime in Paris (both Waverley Books). Enjoy twists to DO-able, easy French and Scottish recipes: from healthy family meals to simple entertaining using easy-to-find yet seasonal, quality ingredients with LESS SUGAR. Out of the kitchen, join my inspiration from top French chefs in and around Paris plus delicious discoveries on my travels.

The recipes in Teatime in Paris are very well laid out. I wish all cookbooks were this easy to follow. I also appreciate how accessible Jill makes French pastries … I adored this cookbook from start to finish.

It's not 'cos' I happened to paint the Paris pastry map endpapers, but I love this cookbook. I'd no clue I could bake but Jill's Teatime in Paris makes it easy to bake real French pastry. If I can do it so can you.

As she walks us through recipes for the easiest of treats right through to to the crème de la crème, Jill points out some of the streets famous for the best patisseries in Paris, adding bits of history and plenty of baking tips, making this a recipe tour that’s both fun and accessible.

Jill shares the best and easiest ways to make French pâtisserie classics at home, from madeleines to éclairs. While some desserts may appear hard to make, Jill breaks down each recipe with a simple step-by-step, making them more than suitable to prepare for your own teatime, wherever you may be.

Jill is very down to earth ...The recipes are written simply and with lots of tips and advice so that you can make cakes that turn out like the pictures and taste absolutely scrumptious.

Janine Marshhttps://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/win-a-copy-of-teatime-in-paris/htmlThe Good Life France

Jill’s style is light, humorous and most informative. Each recipe begins with a brief introduction, detailing its history and/or associations ... The photographs are mouthwatering, the recipes are varied and interesting; most importantly they’re actually DOABLE.

Teatime in Paris is chock full of tips, advice, references guides, clear step-by-step (recipe) instructions, and on-line stockists. For anyone who loves Paris, loves French, loves pastries, this pretty pink book is just the treat!

The book also includes a helpful chapter on baking equipment (the essential and the “little luxuries”) along with a list of stockists for ingredients and equipment in various countries. There’s also a useful “quick reference guide for egg whites”.

Jill’s pâte sucrée (sweet pastry or sweet tart dough) recipe yields the best pastry cases I’ve ever made. They’re sturdy enough for any filling, but just the right balance of crispy and tender when you bite into them. They also don’t get soggy over time.

I would love to make almost every single recipe in Teatime in Paris. This is really a feat in a cookbook as many times, I end up putting them back on the shelf when I am considering buying one, as there just aren’t enough recipes that appeal to me. Well, Teatime in Paris is a book I would buy; and many of my friends have perused the book and loved it, too.

Programmes like the Great British Bake Off have brought pastries like Paris Brest, macarons and all manner of fancy tartlets into the British consciousness as something that can be made at home. "Teatime in Paris!" gives you the tools to create these yourself and, if my experience is anything to go by, Jill's recipes make them much easier than you would think.

This pretty cookbook is as tempting as the recipes it describes, and suspect am going to earmark it as Gift of the Year for everyone I know who loves baking, eating and Paris (so that’s everyone). Rating 10/10

From cover-to-cover Jill Colonna introduces you to teatime in Paris, both as a dining experience to partake in, and as the maker of the fine delectable pastry recipes she shares. You’ll develop a base knowledge of French pastry concepts, learn how less sugar plays a supporting role, and gain confidence as a beginning baker or strengthen skills you already have.

Teatime in Paris brings the Pâtisserie to your kitchen, and no, you don't need to be a master chef to taste these treats in your own home. Thanks to Jill and her easy to follow directions - and with ingredients you probably already have in your own pantry.

It's nice to be able to impress your friends and family with a dessert that looks like it was made by a pastry chef, but I often feel those fancy French pastries are beyond my ability or available time. I had heard that chocolate pastry was really difficult to work with and ganache seems like a tricky thing to make, however nothing could be further from the truth as you can see from these Double Chocolate Tartlets from "Teatime in Paris!"